BIOS

GIGABYTE's firmware features two primary modes, basic and advanced. Even from the GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Xtreme model which is its flagship X570 board, the firmware throughout the range seems consistent. The GUI of the firmware consists of a black background, orange highlights and white text.

Along the top of the advanced mode is five primary menus including Tweaker, Settings, System Info, Boot, and Save & Exit. The GIGABYTE Aorus BIOS also includes the Smart Fan 5 utility which allows users to create custom fan profiles for the two 4-pin headers onboard, with a Q-Flash utility to allow users to update the board's firmware.

The GIGABYTE Aorus firmware is easy to navigate, with a very basic array of menus and options for users to select from. The firmware itself is responsive and we didn't experience any instability or input lag. Users looking to overclock will find plenty of settings available for tweaking including CPU, power, voltage and memory-related settings. There aren't quite as many overclocking settings as models such as the MSI MEG X570 Godlike, especially in terms of memory latency settings, but the GIGABYTE Aorus firmware looks good and works well.

Software

With many vendors starting to switch from including bundles of software utilities to condensing them into one primary package, GIGABYTE has opted to stick with its usual range of applications for the X570 series. All of the software applications operate around its GIGABYTE App Center utility, with this acting as a general hub not only for GIGABYTE applications but Windows and third-party applications too.

The stand-out applications available on the driver and software installation disc bundled with the X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI include the RGB Fusion 2.0 software, the EasyTune overclocking utility, and the @BIOS software.

GIGABYTE offers users plenty of avenues to update the board's firmware with the @BIOS software, as well as the Q-Flash button which allows users to update the BIOS without a CPU or memory installed in the box. This is a huge plus point for users offering multiple avenues to make system critical firmware updates. The RGB Fusion software gives users the ability to customize RGB LED lighting via a range of different lighting effects, while the EasyTune utility allows users to monitor the system and do overclocking within the software. It's not as extensive as AMD's Ryzen Master utility and doesn't offer as many options as the latter. For those looking to enhance the auditory experience with the integrated Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, users will need to download the Realtek Audio Control Center direct from the Microsoft store as only the core audio drivers are supplied on disc.

Visual Inspection Board Features, Test Bed and Setup
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  • eek2121 - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link

    Umm, speaking of misinformation. The B450 has 4 PCIE 3.0 lanes in addition to the 20 PCIE 3.0 lanes provided by the chipset. Yes, boards may provide a slot that is PCIE 2.0 only, but the majority of the connections, including the GPU, are 3.0.
  • a5cent - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link

    No! You are thoroughly confused and you are the one spreading misinformation.

    Yes, the lanes going to the GPU are PCIe 3.0 lanes, as well as four going to an M.2 slot, but those lanes come off the CPU, not the CHIPSET. The CHIPSET and the CPU are two different things. We're talking about the chipset here.

    The CHIPSET is officially PCIe 2.0. It has ZERO PCIe 3.0 lanes. You can look this up in any official documentation. On B550 those lanes will be PCIe 3.0, not PCIe 2.0.

    At least understand the technology before commenting on it.
  • InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link

    The 4 PCIe 3.0 lanes of the B450 are not usable for the user of the motherboard, because their only and exclusive purpose is to link the B450 hub itself to the CPU.

    You can't use them for anything else, because without the B450 hub being tied to the CPU through those PCIe 3.0 lanes, the B450 and the motherboard as a whole would be a dead fish in the water.
  • nerd1 - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link

    The fan is right on the main m.2 drive heatsink, and PCIE 4.0 drive makes A LOT of heat.
  • evernessince - Saturday, March 21, 2020 - link

    Which is really irrelevant since the fan on X570 motherboards are either inaudible or run is passive mode 99% of the time.
  • wr3zzz - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link

    Sigh, the fan... Want to go Team Red this time but will have to wait for B550.
  • MDD1963 - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link

    Yes, by all means, compare a mainboard's gaming performance at 1440P HIgh using a 4-5 year old GPU....
  • MDD1963 - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link

    (Beginning next year, the newest 10900K and R94900 will do battle in gaming, each equipped, of course, with an Nvidia GT710
  • InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link

    Nah, to really show how powerful those new-fangled, revolutionary next-gen CPU will show, reviews will forego using any GPU and employ software rendering.
  • close - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link

    Actually... https://www.pcgamesn.com/amd/threadripper-3990x-cr...

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